New FGA Poll Confirms Arkansas Voters Support Welfare Reform

Naples, FL – A new poll, released today by the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), found that a majority of Arkansas voters support welfare reform, including work requirements for food stamps and Medicaid and reforms to reduce welfare fraud. The poll concluded that voters also oppose Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion and support rolling it back.

Arkansas has already taken significant steps to reduce dependency and the poll found broad support for these efforts including:

Seventy percent support for work requirements for able-bodied adults on Medicaid.

Seventy-five percent support for work requirements for able-bodied childless adults on food stamps.

And overwhelming support for fighting welfare fraud.

Governor Asa Hutchinson reinstated the food stamp work requirement in 2015. This work requirement was codified into state law last year by the legislature, thanks to the work of Rep. Austin McCollum (R-Bentonville).

The Hutchinson administration has also submitted a waiver to the Trump administration to implement Medicaid work requirements and has ramped up efforts to eliminate welfare fraud, recently removing more than 80,000 ineligible Medicaid recipients from the rolls. Voters support all of these reforms overwhelmingly.

Arkansas could keep this momentum going by pursuing even more reforms voters support, including a Medicaid expansion enrollment freeze and waiving occupational licensing fees for military members and low-income Arkansans.

More information about these reforms and the full results of the poll can be viewed here.

The Foundation for Government Accountability is a non–profit, multi–state think tank that specializes in health care, welfare, and regulatory reform. To learn more, visit TheFGA.org.